S.Africa regulator launches insider trading probe into Pinnacle

JOHANNESBURG, April 29 (Reuters) - South Africa's financial services regulator is investigating potential insider trading in shares of mid-cap technology firm Pinnacle Holdings, a senior official said on Tuesday.

Solly Keetse, the head of the Department of Market Abuse at South Africa's Financial Services Board, told Reuters the regulator had launched a formal investigation into "possible insider trading in the shares of Pinnacle."

A Pinnacle director, Takalani Tshivhase, was arrested in March on charges he offered a bribe to a senior police official in order to win a contract for the company, a charge he has denied.

However the company waited 20 days to disclose the arrest, during which time Tshivhase and other directors sold Pinnacle shares. (Reporting by David Dolan; Editing by Ed Stoddard)